A group of international scientists have completed the first global inventory of flu strains in birds by reviewing more than 50 published studies and genetic data, providing new insight into the drivers of viral diversity ...

(Medical Xpress)—Unlike scientists studying the flu virus or HIV, researchers working to develop a vaccine for herpes simplex virus don't yet have a library containing thousands of sequenced viral genomes. Relative to the ...

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a signature immune response that might help doctors identify which newly diagnosed influenza patients are most likely to develop severe symptoms and suffer ...

A snapshot of patients who required care at Duke University Hospital during this year's flu season shows that those who had not been vaccinated had severe cases and needed the most intensive treatment.

Australia's federal Department of Health has advised general practitioners to be on the lookout for potential cases of the H7N9 strain of influenza A, or bird flu, following a spate of deaths in China.

Orthomyxoviridae

Influenzavirus AInfluenzavirus BInfluenzavirus CIsavirusThogotovirus

The Orthomyxoviridae (orthos, Greek for "straight"; myxa, Greek for "mucus") are a family of RNA viruses that includes five genera: Influenzavirus A, Influenzavirus B, Influenzavirus C, Isavirus and Thogotovirus. The first three genera contain viruses that cause influenza in vertebrates, including birds (see also avian influenza), humans, and other mammals. Isaviruses infect salmon; thogotoviruses infect vertebrates and invertebrates, such as mosquitoes and sea lice.

The three genera of Influenzavirus, which are identified by antigenic differences in their nucleoprotein and matrix protein infect vertebrates as follows: